I am amazed at what passes for so called “research” these days. This morning, Quixel Research (who?) put out a press release saying that based on a nationwide survey of 1,169 current and potential flat-screen TV owners, Apple’s “highly anticipated Apple connected television platform (iTV) is likely to have a significant and disruptive impact on the consumer electronics and entertainment landscape once it’s introduced.” The reason for their logic? According to their survey, “80% of all current flat-panel TV owners also indicated they would be either extremely, very or somewhat interested in purchasing one of the new Apple televisions.”

Of course what Quixel Research isn’t willing to say is what people are actually willing to pay for an Apple connected TV or how many would be sold. Simply collecting data that shows people are interested in something is completely useless without pricing data. I could survey people all day long asking them if they would like a new car and what features they want it in, but that does not tell me what they would be willing to pay for it and if they would actually spend the money to buy it. Presenting findings without those data points makes all the other results pointless.

In an email exchange with Quixel Research the company did tell me that they had data on pricing, but they are “not able to release specifics on pricing deltas.” Of course they won’t, because that data would show customers are not willing to pay enough for such a device, in any large quantity, (something we saw in this survey) which would make Quixel Research’s data pointless. But that doesn’t stop Quixel Research in their release from making grand statements that such a device from Apple would, “have a dramatic impact on entertainment landscape,” and would, “disrupt the home entertainment industry“. What they classify as “disruption” is anyone’s guess as without even speculating on how many devices Apple could sell or what people would be willing to pay for them, it’s simply lots of buzz words in a press release.

All of this so-called research is simply useless drivel and a ploy by Quixel Research to get their name in the press. Before this release, the company had not been mentioned by anyone in the media since 2009, based on a search in Google News. It seems a week can’t go by without another research firm putting out some sort of broad press release about an all-in-one Apple TV device, simply to try and get their name in the media. Quixel Research won’t be the last company that tries to capitalize on using Apple’s name for their own cause, but it won’t work, we can see right through these ploys.